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AccuPoint® Advanced Reader
Without RFID
SKU No. 700002873 | Catalog No. 9903
< 10-second results - The system rapidly measures the level of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) on a surface to determine its cleanliness and provide quantitative, pass/fail results.
Actionable Data - AccuPoint's Data Manager software is developed based on customer recommendations to provide the best and easiest reporting options.
Easy-to-use - Full-color high-res display and (optional) leverage RFID (radio frequency identification) technology to identify the location of each test.
Designed to Detect - Unique sampler design to detect and recover ATP from high touch surfaces accurately.
Reliable - Offers the reliability and visibility companies depend on to manage a robust cleaning verification program.
Specifications | ||
Brand | AccuPoint® | |
Analyte | ATP | |
Approvals | AOAC-RI 091601 | |
Package Dimensions | 10.30 in x 7.70 in x 6.50 in | |
Package Weight | 3.10 lb |
Additional Information
AccuPoint Advanced Samplers:
Advanced design and chemistry for advanced ATP recovery
- NEW liquid-stable chemistry
- A more consistent reaction for more reproducible results
- Stable at room temperature for up to two weeks
- Patented flat-head design breaks through biofilm and increases surface contact
- Color-coded for easy identification of surface, water and access samplers
- One-handed, single-step activation for all sampler types
AccuPoint Advanced Reader:
Quick, accurate and easiest to use
- Rapid time to result (less than 20 seconds)
- Full-color high resolution screen
- Unique RLU scale detects small differences to identify ATP baseline deviations
- The only reader with optional RFID technology
- Reduces test time
- Increases test plan accuracy
AccuPoint Advanced Data Manager Software:
A snapshot of plant hygiene/sanitation at your fingertips
- Firmware upgrade feature keeps reader current
- Records and tracks test results
- Generates key hygiene/sanitation indicator reports
- Maintains records for audit compliance
- Identifies trends and problem sites
- Manages test plan
The AccuPoint Advanced system utilizes ATP bioluminescence to determine the cleanliness of test samples. ATP is a chemical compound found in all living cells, including bacteria, food debris, yeast and mold. Bioluminescence is a chemical reaction that produces light. ATP bioluminescence occurs when ATP from a sample comes into contact with luciferase, an enzyme found in fireflies, and luciferin, a substrate. The amount of light emitted in this reaction is proportional to the amount of ATP detected in a sample. After a sample is taken, the sampler is pressed into its cartridge, breaking its seal and initiating the mixing of reagents. The reaction takes place within the cartridge and a detector measures the amount of light produced. The reading is displayed on the LCD display in RLUs. According to preset limits, an icon is displayed indicating a pass, marginal or fail result. These limits are defined by the operator or by using the system presets.
Our customers' success is our shared success. Our experts are ready to train you and your team on our solutions, so you can rest easy knowing procedures are performed properly and yield accurate results. In addition, we provide certificates upon completion of training to provide you with the documentation needed for audit traceability.

subset: commoncrawl


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Michelle Basch, wtop.com
SUNDERLAND, Md. – If you have a big lawn you're tired of mowing or have overgrown land you need to clear, there are some four-legged friends who are hungry for the job.
Prosperity Acres Farm in Sunderland, Md. has what it calls "green goats."
As an alternative to using herbicides, property owners in Southern Maryland can hire the goats to chow down on unwanted vegetation.
Many of the things goats feast on, are things you don't even want to touch.
"They love the wild rose bushes, poison ivy, poison sumac, poison oak. (They're) not a problem for them whatsoever," says farm owner Mary Bowen.
The Calvert County farm will bring the goats to a given property, set up a temporary fence to keep them in one place and protect them from predators, as well as provide the animals with water and check on them daily.
"As long as they've got the weeds to eat, the goats are very content," Bowen says. "It's as if they're at an all-you-can-eat buffet."
"Not only are the goats cleaning up, but then they're fertilizing in a natural and organic way, and they're leaving their fertilizer behind," she says.
The arrangement works well for her because during the summer, Bowen says she doesn't have to spend money to feed her goats at all.
Right now, the goats are being used to maintain the Mellomar Golf Park in Lower Marlboro, where the goats have become a local attraction. They are also helping to clean up a vacant farm in Prince Frederick that dates to the early 1800s.
The male goats at Prosperity Acres are raised for their meat, which Bowen says is healthier than chicken.
"I think it tastes sweet, but I can't compare it to another meat. It does not have a gamey taste like a deer," she says.
No matter if they're male or female, all of the goats get a lot of love.
"We care very much for our animals, as if they were our dog or our cat.They all have names," Bowen says.
Many are named after characters from the "Cars" animated movies, including Lightning McQueen, Sally, Guido and Luigi.
A few months ago, researchers at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore launched a three-year study to determine how best sheep and goats can be used to eliminate unwanted vegetation.
"We want to develop a model that can be transportable and reproducible, so we can tell the farmer, 'This is what you need to do to your farm,'" says Assistant Professor Enrique Nelson Escobar.
Bowen is helping with the project by allowing scientists to study her "green goats," and by testing some of the researchers' ideas to see if methods she's using can be improved.
Follow Michelle and WTOP on Twitter.
(Copyright 2012 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)


text:
Healthcare Industry News: AVONEX
News Release - February 6, 2013
Biogen Idec to Acquire Full Rights and Control of TYSABRI(R) from Elan for Upfront Cash and Contingent Payments
Biogen Idec gains all marketing, distribution and governance rights to TYSABRI in exchange for an upfront payment of $3.25Bn plus tiered contingent payments based on future TYSABRI worldwide salesTerminates TYSABRI collaboration agreement and eliminates change of control provision
Transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to EPS
WESTON, Mass.--(Healthcare Sales & Marketing Network)--Biogen Idec Inc. (BIIB) today announced the company has agreed to purchase Elan's interest in TYSABRI (natalizumab) and upon closing will gain full strategic, commercial and decision-making rights to TYSABRI. Upon the closing of the transaction, the previous collaboration agreement between the companies, whereby worldwide TYSABRI profits were split 50/50, will be terminated along with the agreement's change of control provisions.
Under the terms of the agreement, Biogen Idec will use its existing cash reserves to make a payment of $3.25 billion to Elan upon the closing of the transaction and make future contingent payments to Elan in an amount equal to 12% of global net sales of TYSABRI for the first twelve months, and thereafter, Biogen Idec will continue to make contingent payments of 18% on annual global net sales of TYSABRI up to $2.0 billion and 25% on annual global net sales that exceed $2.0 billion. In 2014 only, the $2.0 billion threshold will be pro-rated for the portion of 2014 remaining after the first 12 months expires.
Biogen Idec anticipates the transaction will be approximately $0.20 to $0.30 accretive to 2013 GAAP earnings per share and $0.50 to $0.60 accretive to non-GAAP earnings per share, and will continue to be accretive thereafter, depending on the sales trajectory of TYSABRI.
"This is a natural next step for Biogen Idec and TYSABRI, and it underscores our deep, long-term commitment to improving the lives of MS patients around the world," said George A. Scangos, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Biogen Idec. "TYSABRI is a remarkably efficacious drug, and with the increased awareness of our risk stratification capabilities, we believe MS patients' use of TYSABRI will continue to expand over the long-term. Full ownership will improve our ability to navigate its role as part of our leadership in MS. We appreciate Elan's tremendous partnership and the productive approach to our discussions that led to a transaction that benefits the shareholders of both companies. We expect a smooth transition to the closing of the transaction."
The transaction has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies and is subject to the customary review process under the Hart–Scott–Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act in the United States and other customary review processes. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the second quarter, assuming a standard regulatory approval timeframe.
Centerview Partners LLC is acting as exclusive financial advisor to Biogen Idec. Ropes & Gray LLP is acting as legal counsel to Biogen Idec.
Biogen Idec will host a webcast to discuss this transaction today, February 6, 2013, at 8:00 a.m. ET/5:00 a.m. PT. George Scangos, Chief Executive Officer, Biogen Idec, will lead the call.
The call will be broadcast via the internet and will be accessible through the Investors section of Biogen Idec's homepage, www.biogenidec.com. Supplemental information in the form of a slide presentation will also be accessible at the same location on the internet at the time of the conference call and will be subsequently available on the website for one month.
About TYSABRI
TYSABRI is approved in more than 65 countries. TYSABRI is approved in the United States as a monotherapy for relapsing forms of MS, generally for patients who have had an inadequate response to, or are unable to tolerate, an alternative MS therapy. In the European Union, it is approved for highly active relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) in adult patients who have failed to respond to beta interferon or have rapidly evolving, severe RRMS.
TYSABRI has advanced the treatment of MS patients with its established efficacy. Data from the Phase 3 AFFIRM trial, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that after two years, TYSABRI treatment led to a 68 percent relative reduction (p<0.001) in the annualized relapse rate when compared with placebo and reduced the relative risk of disability progression by 42-54 percent (p<0.001).
TYSABRI increases the risk of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), an opportunistic viral infection of the brain which usually leads to death or severe disability. Infection by the JC virus (JCV) is required for the development of PML and patients who are anti-JCV antibody positive have a higher risk of developing PML. Factors that increase the risk of PML are presence of anti-JCV antibodies, prior immunosuppressant use, and longer TYSABRI treatment duration. Patients who have all three risk factors have the highest risk of developing PML. Other serious adverse events that have occurred in TYSABRI-treated patients include hypersensitivity reactions (e.g., anaphylaxis) and infections, including opportunistic and other atypical infections. Clinically significant liver injury has also been reported in the post-marketing setting. A list of adverse events can be found in the full TYSABRI product labeling for each country where it is approved.
TYSABRI is marketed and distributed by Biogen Idec Inc. and Elan Corporation, plc. For full prescribing information and more information about TYSABRI, please visit www.biogenidec.com.
About Biogen Idec
Biogen Idec uses cutting-edge science to discover, develop, manufacture and market therapies for serious diseases with a focus on neurology, immunology and hemophilia. Founded in 1978, Biogen Idec is the world's oldest independent biotechnology company. Patients worldwide benefit from its leading multiple sclerosis therapies and the company generates more than $5 billion in annual revenues. For product labeling, press releases and additional information about the company, please visit www.biogenidec.com.
About Elan
Elan Corporation, plc is a neuroscience-focused biotechnology company committed to making a difference in the lives of patients and their families by dedicating itself to bringing innovations in science to fill significant unmet medical needs that continue to exist around the world. Elan shares trade on the New York and Irish Stock Exchanges. For additional information about Elan, please visit www.elan.com.
Biogen Idec Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements about the expected accretion to earnings per share from the transaction, TYSABRI's growth prospects, the synergies we expect from the transaction, and the closing of the transaction. These forward-looking statements may be accompanied by such words as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "intend," "may," "plan," "potential," "project," "target," "will" and other words and terms of similar meaning. You should not place undue reliance on these statements.
These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in such statements, including uncertainty inherent in regulatory review of the transaction, our dependence on our three principal products, AVONEX® (interferon beta-1a), TYSABRI and RITUXAN® (rituximab), the importance of TYSABRI's sales growth, uncertainty of success in commercializing and developing other products, product competition, the occurrence of adverse safety events with our products, changes in the availability of reimbursement for our products, adverse market and economic conditions, our dependence on collaborations and other third parties over which we may not always have full control, problems with our manufacturing processes and our reliance on third parties, failure to comply with government regulation, our ability to protect our intellectual property rights and have sufficient rights to market our products together with the cost of doing so, the risks of doing business internationally, failure to manage our growth and execute our growth initiatives, charges and other costs relating to our properties, fluctuations in our effective tax rate, our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel, product liability claims, fluctuations in our operating results, the market, interest and credit risks associated with our portfolio of marketable securities, environmental risks and the other risks and uncertainties that are described in the Risk Factors section of our most recent annual or quarterly report and in other reports we have filed with the SEC.
These statements are based on our current beliefs and expectations and speak only as of the date of this press release. We do not undertake any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements.
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
Our estimate of the transaction's effect on non-GAAP earnings per share excludes the impact of our projected amortization of the upfront cash payment and related amounts and the income tax effect related to such amortization. We believe that the disclosure of this non-GAAP estimate provides additional insight into the ongoing economics of our business and reflects how we manage our business internally, set operational goals and forms the basis of our management incentive programs.
Source: Biogen Idec
Issuer of this News Release is solely responsible for its
Please address inquiries directly to the issuing company.


text: discountcouponsfor has a source of coupons and deals provided by users and visitors daily. We target at building a must-visit website for consumers. Therefore, we have these coupons checked as soon as possible. However, due to the great number of coupons submitted every single day, invalid coupon codes are unavoidable. Coupons Plus Deals will continue to ensure that all coupon codes and deals are verified.


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Louisiana communities face grim task of dealing with displaced caskets, vaults unearthed by hurricane
Published 8:58 pm Tuesday, October 12, 2021
Hurricane Ida swept through Louisiana with furious winds that ripped roofs off buildings and storm surge so powerful it moved homes. What it wrought on the living it also wrought on the dead, moving vaults and caskets and adding another layer of trauma for families and communities recovering from the powerful storm.
"Once you bury a relative, you expect that to be the permanent resting place," said the Rev. Haywood Johnson Jr., who lives in the small community of Ironton, south of New Orleans along the Mississippi River. Ida's surge destroyed nearly every home in the community and pushed heavy vaults — including those containing Johnson's mother and other relatives — from their resting spots into the streets.
"Some of those tombs weigh a couple of tons. And the water just came and disrupted it like they were cardboard boxes. That was the force of the water," Johnson said.
Louisiana's location in a hurricane-prone region coupled with cultural burial practices that often lay the dead to rest above ground make the problem common in the aftermath of strong hurricanes or other flooding.
Ryan Seidemann chairs the state's Cemetery Response Task Force, which was formed after the 2016 floods in Baton Rouge led to widespread problems at cemeteries across the flood-stricken region. Members of the task force start surveying cemeteries as soon as they can after a storm to assess damage.
In some cases, storm surge or flooding from heavy rain can move the vaults so far that it's not immediately clear where they were buried. Often made of thousands of pounds of concrete or cinder block, vaults can have air pockets inside and the concrete itself can actually be more buoyant than people realize, Seidemann said.
"They float. They tend to go wherever the water goes. We've recovered them from yards, from levees, from underneath stairwells," he said. "There's no rhyme or reason, really, to where they come to rest, and then it's kind of our logistical problem to figure out how to get them out of there."
And recovery is just the first step. The team then has to identify the remains and often works with families to get Federal Emergency Management Agency aid for reburial costs. Even as they're working on post-Ida recovery, Seidemann said the task force is still dealing with damage from hurricanes last year that sent remains into coastal marshes.
In the aftermath of a hurricane, having remains displaced is like "opening up old wounds" for families, Seidemann said: "They're going to have to go through the whole grieving process again."
It's also upsetting for people struggling to rebuild their homes or their businesses who come across a vault or casket on their yard or road, although Seidemann said people are generally patient and just want the remains returned to provide closure for families.
Thomas Halko lives along Bayou Barataria where it intersects with Goose Bayou in southeastern Louisiana. In the middle of his property is a small family cemetery often referred to as the Lafitte Cemetery or the Perrin Family cemetery.
After the hurricane, Halko found thick layers of mud washed over the property, one of his houses pushed off its 4-foot-high pillars and two of the heavy stone vaults in the cemetery moved. One came to rest atop the levee that separates the property from the bayou. Across the road was another vault that Halko thinks was in the cemetery.
"It took quite a beating," Halko said, speaking of the cemetery. Gesturing to the vault on top of the road, he said: "That's one example."
Edward Perrin has relatives buried there as well as in other cemeteries in the long ridge of land that stretches toward the Gulf of Mexico. He said at least one vault became dislodged after Rita and had to be recovered. The 87-year-old said he had thought he might want to be laid to rest at the family's cemetery on Goose Bayou but the graves disturbances have made him reconsider.
"All of this water situation is causing problems with worshiping and burying and living," he said.
Families sometimes strap down graves or use sandbags to keep them in place ahead of a storm, said Arbie Goings, a task force member who is also a retired funeral director. When they do get displaced, identifying remains can be challenging, especially in cases of long dead people with fewer, if any, ways to match things like dental records or DNA.
Some caskets have a little plastic tube — called a memory tube — screwed into its end where a funeral home can put identifying information, Goings said. In some cases, they've found the name at the foot of the casket or embroidered into a piece of cloth covering the bottom part of the person, he said.
Often family members can give key identifying details. He recalled one case where they identified a woman's remains by the marbles her grandchildren put in her casket in honor of her love of the game.
In some cases, they exhaust all options. A handful of people who could not be identified after the 2016 floods are buried at Plainview Cemetery in Denham Springs. And sometimes, despite extensive searching, caskets go missing and are never found.
Seidemann estimated it could take as long as two years to return all the remains displaced by Ida to their rightful places. That's about how long it took after the 2016 floods in the Baton Rouge area.
The team has been in Ironton and Lafitte gathering the vaults and caskets scattered by the water. When they are identified, they will be reburied. In Ironton, the Rev. Johnson said he hopes to have a ceremony at that time to honor the dead.


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Title I, the largest elementary and secondary education program, supplements State and local funding for low-achieving children, especially in high-poverty schools. The program finances the additional academic support and learning opportunities that are often required to help disadvantaged students progress along with their classmates.
These tables, which are organized by State, show each LEA's:
- Federal FY 2003 Title I allocation.
- 20-percent reservation for choice-related transportation and supplemental educational services.
- maximum per-child expenditure for supplemental educational services.
Please note that the data on these tables are for information purposes only and do not constitute any binding agreement on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education.
To see the Federal Title I allocation for your school district, scroll down the following list to your State, select a file format and click on its icon. When the State file opens, scroll down the list of LEAs to find yours.
To read Portable Document Files (PDF) you will need Adobe's Acrobat Reader; if you do not have Acrobat you can download a free copy from Adobe. EXCEL files are provided for those who have Microsoft EXCEL software.
State | File Format | |
Alabama | EXCEL | |
Alaska | EXCEL | |
Arizona | EXCEL | |
Arkansas | EXCEL | |
California | EXCEL | |
Colorado | EXCEL | |
Connecticut | EXCEL | |
Delaware | EXCEL | |
District of Columbia | EXCEL | |
Florida | EXCEL | |
Georgia | EXCEL | |
Hawaii | EXCEL | |
Idaho | EXCEL | |
Illinois | EXCEL | |
Indiana | EXCEL | |
Iowa | EXCEL | |
Kansas | EXCEL | |
Kentucky | EXCEL | |
Louisiana | EXCEL | |
Maine | EXCEL | |
Maryland | EXCEL | |
Massachusetts | EXCEL | |
Michigan | EXCEL | |
Minnesota | EXCEL | |
Mississippi | EXCEL | |
Missouri | EXCEL | |
Montana | EXCEL | |
Nebraska | EXCEL | |
Nevada | EXCEL | |
New Hampshire | EXCEL | |
New Jersey | EXCEL | |
New Mexico | EXCEL | |
New York | EXCEL | |
North Carolina | EXCEL | |
North Dakota | EXCEL | |
Ohio | EXCEL | |
Oklahoma | EXCEL | |
Oregon | EXCEL | |
Pennsylvania | EXCEL | |
Puerto Rico | EXCEL | |
Rhode Island | EXCEL | |
South Carolina | EXCEL | |
South Dakota | EXCEL | |
Tennessee | EXCEL | |
Texas | EXCEL | |
Utah | EXCEL | |
Vermont | EXCEL | |
Virginia | EXCEL | |
Washington | EXCEL | |
West Virginia | EXCEL | |
Wisconsin | EXCEL | |
Wyoming | EXCEL |
FY 2003 Title I Allocation: Actual amounts received by LEAs will be smaller than shown here due to State-level adjustments to Federal Title I allocations. States adjust allocations, for example, to reflect LEA boundary changes or the creation of new LEAs, including charter school LEAs, that are not accounted for in the Department's calculations. States also are permitted to reserve up to 1 percent of allocations for administration and must reserve 2 percent of allocations (rising to 4 percent in fiscal year 2004) for school improvement activities. These adjustments will reduce the actual amounts available under all three columns of the table.
Choice-Related Transportation and Supplemental Educational Services: An LEA must use up to an amount equal to 20 percent of its Title I, Part A allocation (the "20-percent reservation") received from the State to cover choice-related transportation costs for students who exercise a choice option and to pay for supplemental educational services for students whose parents request such services. The 20-percent reservation may include Title I, Part A funds or funding from other Federal, State, local, and private sources. The amount shown in this column is the Department's estimate of the amount that affected LEAsthose with schools identifed for improvement, corrective action, or restructuringmay have to spend to meet this requirement. Actual expenditures will depend on such factors as the number of students exercising either a choice option or supplemental educational services and the costs of satisfying these requests. An LEA has discretion to determine the allocation of these funds between choice-related transportation and supplemental educational services, except that it must spend at least one-quarter of the 20-percent reservationor an amount equal to 5 percent of its Title I, Part A allocationon each activity if there is demand for both from students and their parents.
Maximum Per-Child Expenditure for Supplemental Educational Services: An LEA that must arrange for supplemental educational services is required to pay, for each child receiving services, the lesser of the actual cost of the services or an amount equal to the LEA's Title I, Part A allocation received from the State divided by the number of poor students in the LEA, as determined by estimates produced by the U.S. Bureau of the Census. Thus the amount shown in this column reflects the statutory "cap" on per-child expenditures for supplemental educational services.


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SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--(NASDAQ: AMZN) – Amazon.com today announced it will offer a repeat of Monday's blockbuster Gold Box Deal of the Day: customers can purchase the Lady Gaga "Born This Way" MP3 album today for $0.99. Upon release, the album immediately shot to number one on Amazon's bestselling MP3 albums list and has remained in the top spot since.
"Clearly customers are really excited for Lady Gaga's new album – we saw extraordinary response to Monday's promotion – far above what we expected – she definitely melted some servers," said Craig Pape, director of Music for Amazon. "So we're doing it again, and this time we're ready. We're pleased to offer 'Born This Way' – the whole album – for $0.99 today only. Along with this purchase, customers get 20 GB of free Amazon Cloud Drive storage so they can store and play their music anywhere. If you missed it the first time, don't miss it today."
Amazon MP3 customers can save their newly purchased albums to Amazon Cloud Drive (www.amazon.com/clouddrive), allowing them to play their music anywhere, store it for free and download it to any PC, Mac or Android device using Amazon Cloud Player (www.amazon.com/cloudplayer). All Cloud Drive users start with 5 GB of free Cloud Drive storage, and customers are upgraded to 20 GB of free storage with the purchase of any album, including "Born This Way" at just $0.99.
Amazon MP3 frequently features popular new release albums for $3.99 and offers a free song of the day.
Visit www.amazon.com/goldbox for more information about Amazon's Deal of the Day and other Gold Box deals. Visit www.amazon.com/MP3 for information about Lady Gaga "Born this Way."
About Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth's Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth's most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web Services provides Amazon's developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon's own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. Kindle, Kindle 3G, Kindle with Special Offers and Kindle DX are the revolutionary portable readers that wirelessly download books, magazines, newspapers, blogs and personal documents to a crisp, high-resolution electronic ink display that looks and reads like real paper. Kindle 3G and Kindle DX utilize the same 3G wireless technology as advanced cell phones, so users never need to hunt for a Wi-Fi hotspot. Kindle is the #1 bestselling product across the millions of items sold on Amazon.
Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, www.amazon.cn, and www.amazon.it. As used herein, "Amazon.com," "we," "our" and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.
Forward-Looking Statements
This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.


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Kelly Rowland celebrated her birthday alongside Atlanta's King of rap, Clifford 'T.I.' Harris at Compound in Atlanta last night (February 22, 2014).
The sexy songstress rocked a fresh bob cut and black leather attire paired with black thigh-high Christian Louboutin boots.
Rowland turned 33rd earlier this month (Feb. 11) and continued her month long b-day partying with T.I., Bertell, Sarah Vivan and more.
Tip even took to the mic for a performance!
Check out photos from Rowlands ATL birthday celebration below… Continue Reading…


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Unless you want to start the new year in the depths of a nauseating hangover, you should take time on the night before to consider what's in your glass. Different types of alcohol—whether it's made in a barrel from barley or bottled from grapes—are digested in distinctive ways. Our question: Which alcohol is most likely lead to a hangover?
It's a complicated issue. Everything from genetic disposition to body weight to where you live to the quantity of sleep you got last night and the amount of food in your belly plays a part in whether you'll get a hangover and how severe it may be. But according to studies conducted on the causes and consequences of hangovers and conversations with experts, there are a few constants.
One of the predictive factors is the amount of congeners in alcohol. Congeners—chemical toxins produced during fermentation and aging, or added during production via certain flavorings—have a direct effect on the nervous system. When you drink alcohol, these toxins course through your bloodstream as your liver metabolizes the alcohol.
In general, darker liquors contain more congeners and cause more severe hangovers. According to a study published in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research in March by Damaris Rohsenow at Brown University's Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, bourbon contains 37 times the amount of congeners as vodka. The study participants who imbibed bourbon reported more severe hangovers.
But, "congeners are only one part of the story," says Samir Zakhari, director of the division of metabolism and health effects at the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Zakhari points to other issues such as fatigue, dehydration, and, of course, the amount of alcohol consumed that influence whether a hangover will occur and how severe it may be. A bottle of Budweiser has six times the congener content of a Long Island iced tea, but about two-thirds the amount of alcohol. That may be part of the reason why, according to a study published in Alcohol and Alcoholism in 2008 by researchers at the University of Utrecht, a person would have to drink twice as many beers compared to servings of hard alcohol to get a hangover, and the beer hangover would be half as severe.
To rank our list of the worst hangover inducers, we focused on cocktails, and considered the total alcohol and congener content of the most popular mixed drinks. To ensure accurate comparisons, all recipes were pulled from the International Bartenders Association.
Total alcohol content per drink was tabulated using alcohol by volume standards for each type and amount of alcohol in every drink. Total congener content per drink was calculated using the congener content per 100 mL of each type of alcohol according to "Congener Contents of Alcoholic Beverages," a study published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol in 1981 by Hebe Greizerstein—the most comprehensive clinical data compiled to date. Though congener content varies by brand of alcohol in addition to type, for the purpose of comparison and according to the data available, a single brand of each alcohol was used for each recipe (meaning the congener content of 80-proof Smirnoff vodka was used to calculate congener content in all drinks which included vodka).
Total alcohol and congener content were equally weighted for each drink, and ties were broken based on which drink had a greater mix of alcohols—while studies are inconclusive, mixing your poisons is widely considered an easy way to induce a head-throbbing, body-aching morning.


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CHAPTER 2: In What Manner the Law of Nations Renders the Property of Subjects Answerable for the Debts of Sovereigns. The Nature of Reprisals.
No one but an heir bound by the act of another Property of subjects answerable for the debts of sovereigns, according to the law of Nations Capture of persons and property after satisfaction refused by the aggressor Reprisals Personal safety of subjects Distinction made by the law of Nations in this respect.
I. THE rights accruing from the law of Nations are the points next to be considered, which may be referred either to wars in GENERAL, or to those of a PARTICULAR description.
Wars in GENERAL are those, which properly first come under notice.
By the LITERAL law of nature, no one is bound by the actions of another, except the person, who succeeds to his property. For the introduction and establishment of property introduced and established also the power of transferring it with all its incumbrances. The Emperor Zeno however pronounces it repugnant to natural justice for one man to be molested for the debts of another. A principle, which gave rise to the distinctions in the Roman law, that the wife could not be sued for her husband, nor the husband for his wife, nor a son for his father, nor a father or mother for their son. Nor, as Ulpian clearly states it, could individuals be answerable for the debts of the community, and more especially if that community be possessed of property. Indeed if that were not the case individuals could only be obliged to contribute their due proportion, as members of that community.
Seneca says, "if any one lends money to my country, I am not to be considered as his debtor, nor to take the debt upon myself, though I am bound to pay my due proportion of it." There was a special provision made in the Roman law, that one peasant should not be bound for the debts of another, and it is laid down as a rule, that the goods of one person shall not be distrained for the debts of another, even if they be public debts; and in Justinian's Novels, pledges for others are forbidden, and the cause assigned for it is, because it is unreasonable that one person should incur the debt, and another be bound to the payment of it, an exaction to which the name of ODIOUS is given. King Theodoric Cassiodor, calls it a shocking licence for one man to be detained as a pledge for another.
II Although in the preceding observations there may be a great deal of truth, yet it is possible, and indeed appears actually to be the case, that the voluntary law of nations introduced the practice of rendering all the corporeal, and incorporeal property, belonging to the subjects of any state or sovereign, liable to the debts, which that state or sovereign may have incurred, either personally, or by refusing to make such reparation, as may be due for the injuries and aggressions, which they have committed.
Yet this is a practice, which nothing but necessity could justify; for, on any other ground, it would be opening a door to innumerable acts of wanton aggression and injustice against individuals. As the property of states and sovereigns cannot often so easily fall into an enemy's hand, as that belonging to individuals, who are more numerous, and whose property is consequently more exposed. So that rights of this kind are to be reckoned among those, which Justinian says, are the offspring of stern necessity, the calamities of men driving them to the use of such means.
But though a practice like this owes its introduction to NECESSITY, it is not so far at variance with the law of nature, as to exclude CUSTOM and TACIT agreement from having some share in its establishment. For we find that sureties are bound by no other tie, but that alone of having given their consent. Besides, it might easily be supposed, that it was the best method of redress against the subjects of another state, where the aggrieved persons could not so easily prosecute their rights, or obtain indemnities, the claims or injuries of strangers being but little understood, and perhaps still less regarded in a foreign land.
Subjects, being thus liable to the loss of their property, by the conduct of their fellow subjects, or by that of the state, might sometimes feel it a hardship, while on other occasions, it would prove their greatest security against aggressions from the subjects of another power.
That this was a received custom appears not only from the regular wars, carried on by one state against another, the rules observed in which are often named in the manifestoes issued on such occasions: the form of which may be seen in the first book of Livy, where it is said, "I declare war against the ancient nations of the Latins, and likewise against the respective individuals"; and the same writer, in his thirty first book, informs us, that, upon the question being put to the people, they were asked, whether it was their pleasure that war should be declared against Philip, and against the Macedonians, his subjects.- But the same custom also prevailed, even before the commencement of actual and open hostilities between two states, when mutual acts of aggression by the subjects of each power could be regarded as nothing but the eve, and prelude to a declaration of war. The words used by Agesilaus to Pharnabazus will serve to elucidate this point: he said; "While we were friends to the king of Persia, we treated him and his subjects in a friendly manner: now we are enemies, you can expect nothing from us but hostilities. Therefore, Pharnabazus, while you chuse to continue a vassal to the King, we wound him through your sides."
III. The Athenians had a method somewhat like this of seeking redress, which they called androlhjia, a seizure of men's persons, which was laid down in the Attic law in the following terms, "if any one has been murdered in a foreign country, the nearest relatives of the deceased are authorized to seize any three subjects of that country, but not more than three, till the perpetrators of the deed be punished, or at least delivered up to the hands of justice for that purpose."
In this case we find that the personal liberty of subjects, which may be considered as a kind of incorporeal right, including the right of residing where they please, or doing whatever they may think proper, is made answerable for the debt of the state, who is bound to punish the criminal acts of her subjects: so that the subject suffers constraint, till the state has discharged the debt, which it is bound to pay; and by the payment of this debt is meant the punishment of the guilty. For although the Egyptians, as we learn from Diodorus Siculus, maintained that neither the person, nor liberty of any one ought to be bound or constrained for a debt, there is nothing in it repugnant to the law of nature, and by the practice not only of the Greeks, but of other nations, the opposite opinion seems to have been established.
Aristocrates, who was contemporary with Demosthenes had made a motion for a decree, that if any one killed Charidemus, it might be lawful to seize him, wherever he was to be found, and that any one, who attempted to rescue that person, should be deemed an enemy. Demosthenes finds fault with many parts of this decree For in the first place, Aristocrates had omitted making a proper distinction between murder and a lawful putting to death, the latter of which is an act of justice: in the next place, he has said nothing of bringing the per. son to a regular trial: besides, it was not the persons, among whom the murder had been committed, but those who afterwards received the murderer, that were to be declared enemies. Demosthenes says, that "the regular law prescribes, that if the persons in whose district a murder has been committed, neither punish, nor deliver up the perpetrator of the crime, three of their people shall be liable to be seized. But this decree, allowing the persons in whose district it has been committed to escape with impunity, not even naming THEM, passes sentence upon those, who in conformity to the common laws of humanity have received the fugitive, if they do not deliver him up, which would be a breach of the protection due to a suppliant."
The fourth point, in which he blames Aristocrates, is for having carried matters to the extremities of open and actual war, in a case, where the law only authorized the seizure and detention of particular persons. Of these arguments, the first, the second, and the fourth, are by no means destitute of weight. But the third argument, unless it be confined entirely to the circumstance of accidental death, or that necessarily occasioned by defending one's self, may be regarded more as an oratorical flourish than a just and solid reason. For the law of nations extends the privileges, and character of suppliants to those only, who have left their country on account of misfortune, and not owing to crimes. Indeed if the law of nations made no such distinction, the persons, among whom a crime has been committed, and who may be suspected of having countenanced the deed, and those who barely refuse to punish or deliver up the guilty fugitive, would be upon an equal footing as to right. So that it was either USAGE, which GRADUALLY introduced the above interpretation of that law, to which Demosthenes appeals, or it was afterwards more EXPRESSLY ESTABLISHED, in order to avoid such cavils. For no one can deny the truth of one of these positions who has attended to the observation of Julius Pollux, that "the seizure and detainder of persons can be enforced, whenever a power cannot obtain the surrender of fugitive murderers, which they demand. In this case the aggrieved power or individual may seize and detain any three of the people belonging to the state, which refuses to make that surrender."
It is upon the same principle that any power may detain the subjects of another state, in order to procure the release of any subjects of her own, unjustly seized, and imprisoned by that state.
IV. Another method of obtaining redress for any violation of persons, or property is by having recourse to what, in modern language, are called REPRISALS, which the Saxons and Angles denominated WITHERNAM, and to which the French gave the name of LETTERS OF MARQUE, and those were usually obtained from the crown.
V. It is generally understood that recourse may be had to this method of redress not only against a foreign aggressor, but also against a debtor, if justice cannot be obtained in due time: but in NOTORIOUS cases, which admit of no doubt, this right may be enforced even beyond the strict letter of the law. For even in DOUBTFUL matters, the presumption will always be in favour of judges appointed by public authority. For it is unlikely that they should GREATLY, or WANTONLY exceed their power; especially when, if so inclined, they have not the same means of enforcing their decrees against foreigners, as against their fellow subjects. Indeed even in disputes between subjects of the same country, they cannot annul a just debt. Paulus, the Lawyer, says that a REAL DEBTOR, though discharged, owing to some informality or inability of the law to enforce payment, still remains a debtor according to the law of nature.
And when, in consequence of a judicial sentence, a creditor, under pretext of seizing his own property, had taken from a debtor something which did not belong to him though it was in his possession: upon the discharge of the debt, a doubt arising whether the thing should be restored to the debtor, Scaevola maintained that it certainly ought to be restored.
There is a difference between the two cases. For subjects, AS SUCH, cannot make any violent resistance to the execution of a sentence, which they may not deem satisfactory, nor can they prosecute any right in opposition to the law. FOREIGNERS may use violent means to enforce a right: tho' they are not justified in using such means, while there is any possibility of obtaining redress in a legal, and peaceable manner.
It is on such grounds that reprisals are made upon the persons and property of the subjects, belonging to a power, who refuses to grant redress and reparation for injuries and aggressions. It is a practice not literally enacted by the law of nature, but generally received through custom. It is a practice too of the greatest antiquity: for in the eleventh book of the Iliad, we find Nestor giving an account of the reprisals, which he had made upon the Epeian nation, from whom he took a great number of cattle, as a satisfaction for a prize which his father Nelcus had won at the Elian games; and for debts due to many private subjects of the Pylian kingdom. Out of this booty the king having selected his own due, equitably divided the rest among the other creditors.
VI. It has been a received opinion with many nations, that reprisals might be made even upon the LIVES of innocent subjects, owing to the right, which it was supposed that every one had over his own life, and which might be transferred from the individual to the state. A doctrine, which, as it was proved in the first book of this treatise, can never be reconciled either to sound religion or morality. Indeed a person may ACCIDENTALLY, though not INTENTIONALLY be killed by us in attempting to prevent him from violently obstructing us in the prosecution of a lawful right. Yet if such an accidental calamity could be foreseen, the law of charity, setting so pre-eminent a value upon the life of man, would in such a case prescribe the forbearance of our right.
VII. But on this, as well as other points, we must take care not to confound the natural and fundamental law of nations, with the civil and conventional law of particular states.
By the law of nations all the permanent subjects, both natives and settlers, of an offending state or sovereign are 'liable to suffer reprisals: but the same rule does not bind those, who are passing through a country, or only residing in it for a time. For such reprisals are a kind of pledges, like public burdens, made answerable for the public debts, from which foreigners, being temporary residents, though owing obedience to the laws, are totally exempt.
In the same manner, Ambassadors, but not those sent from an enemy to our enemies, and their property, are exempt from such conditions by the law of nations. By the CIVIL LAW too Of many countries an exception is made in favour of women and children, of men of letters, and those who are travelling for the purposes of trade. But by the LAW OF NATIONS the goods of all are liable to reprisals, as was the case at Athens, respecting the seizure of persons. In many places, by the civil law, the right of making reprisals is obtained of the sovereign, and in others, of the judges.
By the law of nations the property of all captures is devoted to discharge the debt, and defray the expenses incurred, the remainder of which, after due satisfaction obtained, and peace concluded, should be restored. By the civil law the persons interested are summoned to appear, the property is sold by public authority, and the money, accruing from thence, divided among all who are entitled to a share of the same. But these and other points of the same kind are to be learned from civilians, who are conversant in such matters, and particularly from Bartolus, who has written upon reprisals. This subject may be closed with one observation, that will in some measure tend to soften the rigour of this stern, but necessary right, and that observation is, that such as by not discharging a debt, or granting redress. have occasioned reprisals to be made, are bound, in justice and honour, to make good the losses of those, who have thereby suffered.
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- City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
- Dubai 05:28 06:42 12:35 15:52 18:22 19:36
A Maldives court has sentenced a 15-year-old alleged rape victim to 100 lashes and eight months under house arrest after she admitted having had premarital sex in a separate incident, an official said Wednesday.
During a police probe into allegations that the girl had been raped by her stepfather, investigators uncovered evidence that she had had consensual sex with another man.
"Though she has been sentenced she will be lashed once she turns 18," the court official, who asked not to be named, told AFP. "But the sentence will be enforced immediately if she wants it to be carried out now."
Premarital sex is illegal under the Indian Ocean nation's strict Islamic law.
The child's stepfather faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted of rape and a murder charge, after he allegedly killed a baby which resulted from his alleged rape of his stepdaughter.
The premarital sex charge against the teenager has been condemned by rights groups and the government has urged leniency towards the girl, saying she had been traumatised by the repeated rapes by her stepfather.
President Mohamed Waheed's spokesman Masood Imad told AFP that the teenager should be treated as a victim rather than a perpetrator of a crime, but clarified that she should nevertheless "feel the shame" for her offence.
"She is not going to be lashed to cause her pain... rather, it is for her to feel the shame for having engaged in activity forbidden by the religion," Imad said in a phone interview.
It was unclear if the girl's male partner would also be charged with having premarital sex.
Imad added that the government was keen to engage in a dialogue with the national human rights commission and the judiciary to modernise the penal code and limit flogging punishments.
Meenakshi Ganguly, south Asia director for Human Rights Watch, criticised the decision.
"The girl is already a victim and is traumatised, the authorities should be trying to protect her, not punish her," Ganguly told AFP.
Ganguly also urged the Maldives to abolish flogging, calling it "an inhuman, degrading practice... the kind of punishment that should not exist in their law books".
The nation of 330,000 Sunni Muslims has been practising Islam for centuries. In recent years men and women have been prosecuted for sex outside marriage.
Minors are liable for the punishment when they reach 18, the age of majority. The Maldives continues to subject women to flogging despite UN calls to drop the practice.
In September a court in the Maldives ordered the public flogging of a 16-year-old who confessed to premarital sex. Her lover was jailed for 10 years.
Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.


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Elevation of the Cross
Commemorated September 14
Troparion of the Elevation of the Holy Cross, Tone 1
O Lord, save Thy people and bless Thine inheritance. Grant victory over their enemies to Orthodox Christians, and protect Thy people with Thy Cross.
Kontakion of the Elevation of the Holy Cross, Tone 4
O Christ our God, Who wast voluntarily lifted up on the Cross, grant Thy mercies to Thy new people named after Thee. Gladden with Thy power Orthodox Christians and give them victory over their enemies. May they have as ally that invincible trophy, Thy weapon of peace.


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This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
During her life, Beverley Taylor Sorenson donated millions of dollars to Utah universities and colleges to train art teachers and integrate arts into schools. Since her death in May, many in the community wondered who might have the money and the passion to fill the void.
Northern Utah entrepreneur Gaylen Rust is a likely candidate, although he is far too modest to admit it.
Rust, a Utah native and president of Rust Rare Coin, has quietly become an expert on arts education. Through his Legacy Music Alliance charity, he has given nearly $2 million of his own money to ensure that the arts remain part of the Utah school curriculum, as well as provide opportunities for local musicians once they graduate.
Rust and his wife, Denise, also have founded R Legacy Entertainment, a recording label that promotes Utah musicians internationally.
"He's going to change music education in Utah," said Craig Jessop, chairman of the alliance's advisory board and dean of Utah State University's Caine College of the Arts. "What I'm seeing is that the whole educational model is changing … and Gaylen is on the leading edge of that."
Rust's ardent promotion of the arts is not what one might expect. An expert in early Mormon and Utah coins and currency, he raises horses on his west Layton ranch. He is the father of five children three sons, two daughters and grandfather of seven. He has a fine singing voice, though he is not a musician and has never played an instrument. But Rust knows that music makes better citizens, and that is what drives him.
"I see it as an obligation," he said. "For generations coming up, video games send the wrong message. I don't see [video] games as teaching unity." Music, he added, teaches children to work as a team to attain a common goal.
"I've been to every university in the state," Rust said. "I've seen the levels of educators and the level of students, and then I see the lack of support, and it's discouraging."
Howard Summers, the band teacher at Lehi Junior High School, said the school has been able to buy a tuba and bolster the instrument repair budget thanks to Rust's generosity. "He believes that if you are successful in music, you can be successful in life," Summers said of Rust.
Making progress • In the three years since the Legacy Music Alliance was formed, professional musicians and students have recognized Rust's impact.
Rust, for example, was an early supporter of Ryan Innes and helped fund an album for the singer, who recently participated on the television singing competition "The Voice." Rust also has been a big supporter of Refinement Records, the new Draper label that recently sponsored a tour featuring Innes and two other Utah musicians who were successful on "The Voice."
"Gaylen backs up everything he believes in," Innes said.
Others are taking notice. In February, the Utah Music Educators Association honored Gaylen and Denise Rust with the 2012 Outstanding Service to Music Education Award. The award "epitomizes what is best about the entrepreneurial spirit in Utah and the positive impact it's having on music education in the state," said UMEA president Don Peterson when presenting the honor. Their vision "has given hope and encouragement in a way that I have not witnessed during the last 40 years of music education in Utah. Simply put, their vision of a quality music education for all young people in Utah has inspired and energized all of us."
Rust's energetic imprint can be seen in other ways, as well.
• Earlier this year he helped the Crescent Super Band, a teen group based in American Fork, and 50 other young musicians travel to New York City to headline at Carnegie Hall. His record label bankrolled a holiday album with all of the proceeds going to the band.
• The Utah Wind Symphony's 2013-14 season is sponsored by the Legacy Music Alliance, and Rust is largely responsible for bringing the relatively new ensemble to fruition. Originally created by a University of Utah graduate student and a local high-school band director, the Wind Symphony now includes faculty and graduates from the University of Utah, Utah State, Weber State and Brigham Young University. "Gaylen has helped us out tremendously," said Scott Hagen, director of the UWS. "[Without him] it would be a whole different ensemble. We wouldn't be able to draw the people we've been able to bring in."
• Rust helped produce and distribute albums by prominent Utah musicians including "Born Brave" by Katherine Nelson and "A Hymn Revival Vol. 2" by Utah County supergroup Lower Lights. Utah audiences may be familiar with Nelson, who portrayed Emma Hale Smith in the films "Emma Smith: My Story" and "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration."
• Rust also has launched three major programs: Instruments to Students for Schools, Educator Essential for Teachers and Jump Start Group Lessons. These initiatives have helped to purchase new instruments, refurbish old ones, underwrite scholarships, buy software and method books as well as cover travel expenses for a Utah school invited to the prestigious Midwest Clinic in Chicago. "His impact is becoming substantial throughout the state," said Summers. "People are realizing that he's for real. There's no hidden agenda."
Musical recruits • Some Utah musicians are so impressed with Rust and his work, they have quit their day jobs to work for him and his growing Legacy Music Alliance.
Keith Sorensen was director of bands at Layton High School before becoming the alliance's director of K-12 programs.
"He struck me as a genuine human being," said Sorensen. "From the time I was 11, I was in public music education. I'm aware of its challenges and what it can be. Good music education makes better students. I've been bought and sold on his vision. … I've never met someone who has the energy and passion for what he does."
Michael Huff was the Gaylen D. and Denise Rust Visiting Professor of Music Education and Commercial Music at Utah State University's Caine College of the Arts funded by you know who. He left recently to become the alliance's executive program director.
"There's so much good that he is trying to do," said Huff, who once was associate conductor of the Utah Symphony Chorus. "He has a really dogged determination to make this work. You can force things, but a better thing is to identify something that needs to be done and then create the environment where it can be done. … Folks should know that music and the arts in schools are in constant threat."
History • Rust first became involved in music when he was asked to produce a concert featuring Utah singer Daniel Beck. Promoting Beck's music was difficult because there wasn't a well-established network to get the word out. Frustrated, Rust reached out to Jessop for advice. Later, Jessop invited Rust to accompany him to New York City, where Jessop conducted the Carnegie Hall National High School Choral Festival.
Standing at the side of the stage, Rust was captivated.
"It was one of the most transforming experiences of my life," said Rust, who tears up when talking about the show. "Watching Craig in that space, with kids that were passionate about delivering [was emotional]. I could watch that energy flow from Craig to his students, to the crowd. It was like a rock star performing."
Over the next few months, Jessop and Rust had a continuing conversation on what needed to be done to instill passion and create support for music education. When Rust decided to launch the alliance in 2010, he asked Jessop to come onboard, with the idea of connecting schools and colleges to build partnerships that too often don't exist.
"I don't put my name on too many projects," said Jessop, the former music director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. "Gaylen is one of the few."
In the future, Rust says the Legacy Music Alliance will continue to reach out to schools and colleges across the state to help them network, hopefully creating a groundswell of support that intensifies and persuades others to help.
Rust said he won't rest until every school in the state has the means to offer an inspiring arts program.
"Music is alive and well because of Gaylen Rust," Hagen said. "The word needs to get out."
But the word won't likely come from Rust's mouth. He's too modest.
Twitter: @davidburger


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- Home
- Departments
- Highway & Central Garage
- Construction
Code 753
Under New York State Law, there are rules and regulations which govern the operations of excavators, contractors, utilities, municipalities, and any other individuals performing site work which may include any potential digging. By law such persons are required to call the Underground Facilities Protective Organization (UFPO) at 800-962-7962. This organization, in turn, notifies all agencies (such as Con Edison or Verizon), which may have an underground facility on the site. A minimum of two working days is given to all notified agencies to clearly stake out any of their underground facilities. The "Code 753" number is a thirteen digit number issued by the UFPO organization referencing the phone call.
Street Opening / Right-of-Way Permits
The Town's right-of-way is not limited to streets, sidewalks, shoulders, etc. A Street Opening Permit is required if the activity:
- Extends beyond your property line and into the Town's right-of-way.
- Uses heavy equipment (such as a backhoe) to cross over the Town's right-of-way.
- May cause damage to the Town's right-of-way.
For permits regarding Town streets or right-of-way, please read the instructions and complete the Street Opening Permit Application and Instructions (PDF).
Construction Specifications
- Construction Specifications - Catch Basin Lid Model (PDF)
- Construction Specifications - Concrete Dropped Curb Model (PDF)
- Construction Specifications - Driveways (PDF)
- Construction Specifications - Pavement Restorations (PDF)
- Construction Specifications - Pedestrian Ramp Temp Model (PDF)
- Construction Specifications - Sewers (PDF)
- Construction Specifications - Sidewalks (PDF)
Physical Address
740 West Boston Post Road
Second Floor
Mamaroneck, NY 10543
Phone: 914-381-7825
The Town Center is open from
Monday - Friday
8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Highway Yard Hours
Monday - Friday
7 a.m. - 3 p.m.


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The Minister of Forests, Wildlife and Parks, Laurent Lessard, and the rector of Université Laval, Denis Brière, announced on September 11, the expansion of 346 km2 to complement the existing 66 km2 of the Montmorency Forest.
The two parties reached an agreement to delegate the resource management of this new forest land to the teaching institution. This agreement brings to 412 km2 the total area of this unique environment for teaching and university research.
"The Montmorency Forest is a vast natural laboratory and a precious tool to help students, teachers and researchers to learn and innovate in an environment that addresses the operational realities of the forestry industry. (…) This major expansion of the Montmorency Forest will enable experiments closer to the realities and the integrated multi-resource management of the forest land", said Minister Lessard.


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- Home
- Our Community
- Emergency Preparedness
Emergency Preparedness
The City of Arroyo Grande prepares to respond to all types of emergencies, and residents and businesses are also encouraged to prepare. Do not wait! The following Information is provided to assist you in preparing for an emergency.
Information Resources
SLO County Real-Time Rainfall Info
SLO County Office of Emergency Services
El Nino Portal: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Storm Preparedness
Create an emergency Family Communication Plan
FEMA Family Emergency Planning Guide
Red Cross preparedness library
Sand, Sandbags, Flooding
Flood Information
Know where to get sandbags
- Keep roof gutters and downspouts clean and clear
- Keep yards and driveways clear of debris
- Have trees pruned or removed if they are a danger to you or your neighbor's property
- Make repairs to walls, roofs and drainage systems before storms arrive
- Have heater and fireplaces cleaned and checked for safety before storm season
- Stay off the roads during storm events
- Know how to fill and place sand bags
- Have a supply of plastic sheeting, plywood and tools ready for waterproofing of doors and openings
- Stock up on food, medicine (and pet food) so you do not have to shop during a storm
PG&E: Where to call to report or check on a power outage
Report or check on an outage...
PG&E: What to do if you smell gas
If you smell gas...
PG&E: How to turn off your gas
How to turn off your gas...
Southern California Earthquake Center


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Zachary Reyna, the 12-year-old Florida boy hospitalized with a brain-eating parasite known as Naegleria fowleri, died at Miami Children's Hospital on Saturday.
In a message to the Facebook page posting updates on his condition, the Reyna family said Zachary had changed the world for the better during his short time on earth.
I hope that Zac continues to touch people and his time here is remembered forever. We thank everyone for being so caring and I know it's going to be tough on us at first, but we have an awesome support team back home and we are grateful for that. The battle is over for Zac but he won the war.
"Miami Children's Hospital expresses heartfelt condolences to this devoted family," the hospital said in a statement. "We respect the family's wishes and honor their privacy at this time."
Zachary's doctors believe he contracted the parasite while knee-boarding in a watery ditch near his family home in LaBelle. His family noticed that something was wrong when the normally energetic boy spent all day sleeping.
After he was hospitalized and diagnosed with primary amoebic encephalitis, the infection caused by the parasite, Zachary's doctors gave him an experimental anti-amoeba drug used successfully on a 12-year-old Arkansas girl who had contracted the bug a few weeks before. Over the weekend, however, tests on Zachary's brain showed no activity.
In another Facebook post, the Reyna family said they intended to donate their son's organs.
"Even though Zac has passed, he will still be saving many lives," the family said.
Reyna's infection prompted Florida health officials to warn swimmers against shallow, warm water -- the environment favored by deadly parasites.


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12' Next-Gen Pad Blue, Green or Grey – Select your Color
$389.00 with FREE Shipping
IGT Next-Gen 12' Spring Pad – 100% made in the U.S.A.
Introducing our new top quality pad to match our top quality In-Ground Trampoline system. Made with the best 22 oz. vinyl that will stand up to all elements from the blistering sun and heat of southwest to the freezing cold, snow and ice of the northeast.
Padded with American made, one inch, high-density foam that will keep the children safe. We use a unique bungee system to secure the pad in place while also giving a bit of shock absorption to the attachment points so your pad will always be right where it's supposed to be with less stress to the seams. And the bungees are replaceable if one ever gives way.
Sure our new all American pad is expensive but you are buying the ultimate trampoline pad and the best always costs more. Besides we have the only in-ground trampoline pad that carries a warranty.
Enjoy your in-ground trampoline and be confident that the pad that protects the jumpers is the best you can get.


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Understanding Anti-Spam and Antivirus Functionality
Applies to: Exchange Server 2010 SP2, Exchange Server 2010 SP3
Spammers, or malicious senders, use a variety of techniques to send spam into your organization. No single tool or process can eliminate all spam. Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 builds on the foundation of Exchange Server 2007 to provide a layered, multipronged, and multifaceted approach to reducing spam and viruses. Exchange 2010 includes a variety of anti-spam and antivirus features that are designed to work cumulatively to reduce the spam that enters your organization.
You can reduce the incidences of virus outbreaks and attacks by malicious software, which is also referred to as malware, in your organization if you reduce the overall volume of spam that enters your organization. When you eliminate the bulk of the spam at the computer that has the Edge Transport server role installed, you save processing resources, bandwidth, and storage when the messages are scanned for viruses and other malware further along the mail flow path.
The layered approach to reducing spam refers to the configuration of several anti-spam and antivirus features that filter inbound messages in a specific order. Each feature filters for a specific characteristic or set of related characteristics on the inbound message.
The following sections provide brief descriptions of each default anti-spam and antivirus feature.
Looking for management tasks related to managing transport servers? See Managing Transport Servers.
Anti-Spam and Antivirus Filters
Anti-Spam Stamps
Microsoft Update for Anti-Spam Services
Using Exchange Hosted Services
Strategy for Anti-Spam Approach
Anti-Spam and Antivirus Filters
The anti-spam and antivirus filters are applied in a specific order. For more information, see Understanding Anti-Spam and Antivirus Mail Flow. The following order applies:
Connection filtering Connection filtering inspects the IP address of the remote server that's trying to send messages to determine what action, if any, to take on an inbound message. The remote IP address is available to the Connection Filter agent as a byproduct of the underlying TCP/IP connection that's required for the SMTP session. Connection filtering uses a variety of IP Block lists, IP Allow lists, as well as IP Block List provider services or IP Allow List provider services to determine whether the connection from the specific IP should be blocked or allowed in the organization.
Sender filtering Sender filtering compares the sender on the MAIL FROM: SMTP command to an administrator-defined list of senders or sender domains who are prohibited from sending messages to the organization to determine what action, if any, to take on an inbound message.
Recipient filtering Recipient filtering compares the message recipients on the RCPT TO: SMTP command to an administrator-defined Recipient Block list. If a match is found, the message isn't permitted to enter the organization. The recipient filter also compares recipients on inbound messages to the local recipient directory to determine whether the message is addressed to valid recipients. When a message isn't addressed to valid recipients, the message can be rejected at the organization's network perimeter.
Sender ID Sender ID relies on the IP address of the sending server and the Purported Responsible Address (PRA) of the sender to determine whether the sender is spoofed or not. PRA is calculated based on the following message headers:
For more information about the PRA, see Understanding Sender ID and RFC 4407.
Content filtering Content filtering uses Microsoft SmartScreen technology to assess the contents of a message. Intelligent Message Filter is the underlying technology of Exchange content filtering. Intelligent Message Filter is based on patented machine-learning technology from Microsoft Research. During its development, Intelligent Message Filter learned distinguishing characteristics of legitimate e-mail messages and spam. Regular updates with Microsoft Exchange Anti-spam Update service ensure that the most up-to-date information is always included when the Intelligent Message Filter runs. Based on the characteristics of millions of messages, Intelligent Message Filter recognizes indicators of both legitimate messages and spam messages. Intelligent Message Filter can accurately assess the probability that an inbound e-mail message is either a legitimate message or spam.
On November 1, 2016, Microsoft stopped producing spam definition updates for the SmartScreen filters in Exchange and Outlook. The existing SmartScreen spam definitions will be left in place, but their effectiveness will likely degrade over time. For more information, see Deprecating support for SmartScreen in Outlook and Exchange.
Spam quarantine is a feature of the Content Filter agent that reduces the risk of losing legitimate messages that are incorrectly classified as spam. Spam quarantine provides a temporary storage location for messages that are identified as spam and that shouldn't be delivered to a user mailbox inside the organization.
Content filtering also acts on the safelist aggregation feature. Safelist aggregation collects data from the anti-spam safe lists that Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Web App users configure and makes this data available to the Content Filter agent on the computer that has the Edge Transport server role installed in Exchange 2010.
When an Exchange administrator enables and correctly configures safelist aggregation, the Content Filter agent passes safe e-mail messages to the enterprise mailbox without additional processing. E-mail messages that Outlook users receive from contacts or that those users have added to their Outlook Safe Senders List or have trusted are identified by the Content Filter agent as safe. The result is that messages that are identified as safe aren't classified as spam and unintentionally filtered out of the messaging system.
Sender reputation Sender reputation relies on persisted data about the IP address of the sending server to determine what action, if any, to take on an inbound message. The Protocol Analysis agent is the underlying agent that implements the sender reputation functionality. A sender reputation level (SRL) is calculated from several sender characteristics that are derived from message analysis and external tests.
Senders whose SRL exceeds a configurable threshold will be temporarily blocked. All their future connections are rejected for up to 48 hours.
In addition to the locally calculated IP reputation, Exchange 2010 also takes advantage of IP reputation anti-spam updates, available via Microsoft Update, which provide sender reputation information about IP addresses that are known to send spam.
Attachment filtering Attachment filtering filters messages based on attachment file name, file name extension, or file MIME content type. You can configure attachment filtering to block a message and its attachment, to strip the attachment and allow the message to pass through, or to silently delete the message and its attachment.
Microsoft Forefront Protection 2010 for Exchange Server Forefront Protection 2010 for Exchange Server (FPE) is an antivirus software package that's tightly integrated with Exchange 2010 and offers antivirus protection for the Exchange environment. The antivirus protection that's provided by FPE is language independent. However, the setup, administration of the product, and end-user notifications are available in 11 server languages. For more information, see Microsoft Forefront Protection 2010 for Exchange Server.
Outlook junk e-mail filtering The Outlook junk e-mail filter uses state-of-the-art technology to evaluate whether a message should be treated as a junk e-mail message based on several factors, such as the time that the message was sent, the content and structure of the message, and the metadata collected by the Exchange Server anti-spam filters. Messages caught by the filter are moved to a special Junk E-mail folder, where the recipient can access them later.
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Anti-Spam Stamps
Anti-spam stamps help you diagnose spam-related problems by applying diagnostic metadata, or stamps, such as sender-specific information, puzzle validation results, and content filtering results, to messages as they pass through the anti-spam features that filter inbound messages from the Internet. These stamps are visible to the end-user mail client and encode sender-specific information, the version of the spam filter definition file, Outlook puzzle validation results, and content filtering results.
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Microsoft Update for Anti-Spam Services
Exchange 2010 offers additional services to help keep anti-spam components up to date, taking advantage of the proven Microsoft Update infrastructure.
Microsoft Exchange 2010 Standard Anti-spam Filter Updates offer anti-spam updates every two weeks via Microsoft Update.
The Forefront Security for Exchange Server Anti-spam Update service is a premium service that updates the content filter daily via Microsoft Update. In addition, the premium service includes the spam signature and IP Reputation Service updates that are available on an as-needed basis, up to several times a day. Spam signature updates identify the most recent spam campaigns. IP Reputation Service updates provide sender reputation information about IP addresses that are known to send spam.
To use the premium service, you must have the Exchange Enterprise client access license (CAL).
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Using Exchange Hosted Services
Spam filtering is enhanced by or is also available as a service from Microsoft Exchange Hosted Services.
Exchange Hosted Services is a set of four distinct hosted services:
Hosted Filtering, which helps organizations protect themselves from e-mail-borne malware
Hosted Archive, which helps them satisfy retention requirements for compliance
Hosted Encryption, which helps them encrypt data to preserve confidentiality
Hosted Continuity, which helps them preserve access to e-mail during and after emergency situations
These services integrate with any on-premises Exchange servers that are managed in-house or Hosted Exchange e-mail services that are offered through service providers. For more information about Exchange Hosted Services, see Microsoft Exchange Hosted Services.
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Strategy for Anti-Spam Approach
Your strategy for how to configure the anti-spam features and establish the aggressiveness of your anti-spam agent settings requires that you plan and calculate carefully. If you set all anti-spam filters to their most aggressive levels and configure all anti-spam features to reject all suspicious messages, you're more likely to reject messages that aren't spam. On the other hand, if you don't set the anti-spam filters at a sufficiently aggressive level and don't set the spam confidence level (SCL) threshold low enough, you probably won't see a reduction in the spam that enters your organization.
It's a best practice to reject a message when Exchange detects a bad message through the Connection Filter agent, Recipient Filter agent, or Sender Filter agent. This approach is better than quarantining such messages or assigning metadata, such as anti-spam stamps, to such messages. The Connection Filter agent and Recipient Filter agent automatically block messages that are identified by the respective filters. The Sender Filter agent is configurable.
This best practice is recommended because the SCL that underlies connection filtering, recipient filtering, or sender filtering is relatively high. For example, with sender filtering, where the administrator has configured specific senders to block, there's no reason to assign the sender filtering data to such messages and to continue to process them. In most organizations, blocked messages should be rejected. (If you didn't want the messages rejected, you wouldn't have put them on the Blocked Senders List.)
The same logic applies to real-time block list services and recipient filtering, although the underlying confidence isn't as high as the IP Block list. You should be aware that the further along the mail flow path a message travels, the greater the probability of false positives, because the anti-spam features are evaluating more variables. Therefore, you may find that if you configure the first several anti-spam features in the anti-spam chain more aggressively, you can reduce the bulk of your spam. As a result, you'll save processing, bandwidth, and disk resources so that you can process more ambiguous messages.
Ultimately, you must plan to monitor the overall effectiveness of the anti-spam features. If you monitor carefully, you can continue to adjust the anti-spam features to work well together for your environment. With this approach, you should plan on a fairly non-aggressive configuration of the anti-spam features when you start. This approach lets you minimize the number of false positives. As you monitor and adjust the anti-spam features, you can become more aggressive about the type of spam and spam attacks that your organization experiences.
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